FACT-CHECK: Photo purporting to show Israeli soldiers holding Islamic State flag has been altered
The photo has been digitally altered to the IS flag
CLAIM
A photo published by a well-known X (formerly Twitter) user purported to show a group of Israeli soldiers holding the Islamic State flag alongside the Flag of Zion. The photo has been digitally altered.
BACKGROUND
Earlier this month, Dr. Anastasia Maria Loupis, a physician who practices in Copenhagen, Denmark, shared an image of a group of Israeli soldiers purporting to show a group of Israeli soldiers holding the Islamic State flag alongside the Flag of Zion.
Loupis, a known conspiracy theorist with 1.2m followers on the platform, posted the photo along with the caption: "ISRAEL IS ISIS".
Loupis was not the first to share the image; another X user did so on February 24.
"Can anyone explain this!?," the user wrote.
METHOD
Loupis, who identifies as a pro-Palestininan supporter, is a known spreader of misinformation and disinformation, and her posts are regularly debunked by the X community.
The section of the photo showing the Islamic State flag raises concerns over the blurring around it and also over a lighting inconsistency with the flag.
Carrying out a Google reverse image search, the ESN found another other version of the image, shared by the official Israeli Defense Forces X account on June 5 2023.
The image shows the men in the same pose as the Flag of Zion; however, the image does not contain the Islamic State flag but the flag of the Golani Patrol, a branch of the Israeli armed forces.
According to the IDF, the image shows 12 Golani soldiers and commanders who represented Israel in the 19th edition of the annual African Lion exercise in Morocco in June 2023.
From this, we can conclude that the photo predates the versions shared in 2024 and does not show Israeli soldiers holding an Islamic State flag.
RATING
The image has been altered. The original photo shows the soldiers holding the Flag of Zion and the flag of the Golani Patrol, and not the Islamic State flag.
SOURCES
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: ISRAEL IS ISIS [Accessed 19 Mar. 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: African Lion [Accessed 19 Mar. 2024].
X (formerly Twitter). (2024). Available at: Can anyone explain this? [Accessed 19 Mar. 2024].